pull over — stop a vehicle at the side of the road
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
To drive your vehicle to the side of the road and stop, usually for safety or because someone asks you to.
Say it like a native
Textbook The officer instructed the motorist to bring the vehicle to a halt at the roadside.
Native The officer told him to pull over.
'Pull over' is the everyday verb; the formal version is police-report English.
Pattern: pull over (vehicle/driver); pull over (to/at/by) (place)
In use
- The police officer signaled for me to pull over.travel
- If I saw an ambulance behind me while driving, I would immediately pull over to let it pass.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ He pulled over the car to the side.
✓ He pulled over. / He pulled the car over.
'Pull over' is usually complete on its own — 'to the side' is exactly what 'over' already means.
Common collocations
pull over + reason— to the side, for a break, and stop, by the police
Don't confuse it
'Pull over' is different from 'pull up', which can mean stopping anywhere, not just at the side.